Also known an La Doyenne, the 142.1km long race is one of five 'Monuments' of the European road racing calendar.

The 29-year-old - riding with French team FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope - briefly led the race ahead of the final ascent, before Dutch Olympic champion Annemiek van Vleuten stormed home to an 89^th career win by 43 seconds.

The Olympian held on to record the second-placed finish after holding in the final sprint ahead of Demi Vollering and the chasing pack. Brown finished second in the 2020 edition of the iconic race.

"I'm happy with my second place, of course it would have been nice if we could catch Annemiek but she was very strong," Brown told Eurosport after the race.

"It's my first time on the podium this season, I was a little disappointed with some of my early races, so I'm happy to finish the classics on the podium. Even though it's not a win, I'm happy."

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But it hasn't been all smooth-sailing for the proud south-west product who had been working back to her best after her 2021 season was cut short due to a shoulder injury but a 12^th placed finish in the Paris-Roubaix, a seventh place in the Tour of Flanders and taking the national time trial title in Ballarat earlier this year had been promising.

Fellow Australian Amanda Spratt - riding with Team BikeExchange-Jayco - finished in 10^th position.

Brown said as a team it was a promising result after months of hard work.

"The last couple of weeks have been very positive for the team - I think we head into the rest of the year with a lot of confidence," she said.

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